Not one, but two Big Snow storms, Elena's mood, and my birthday.

When I was a kid snow storms were a regular event. The day after Thanksgiving you’d start to wonder if it was going to be a white Christmas. We’d get the first snow in the middle of December, and if we were lucky, depending on your view point, mine being a kid, we’d have a white Christmas, and even a snow day or two during the winter. I remember one day it was cold and snowing while we were at school. When we got home, my mom met us with hot chocolate, and I think chocolate chip cookies. The next time it was cold and snowy I anticipated the same hot chocolate, and cookies and was very disappointed it didn’t happen.

Now with all of that background, over the past fifty-sixty years major snowstorms have become unusual. Even snow is not a guarantee each year. This year, I checked a lot of volcanic ash has flown into the atmosphere. And as all of you nuclear winter atomic war, end of the civilization types know ash in the atmosphere reflects sunlight cooling the ground, so we are having a real winter. The snow started around 6 in the morning, I’d gotten up to let the dogs out. It was a weekend, so I went back to bed. When I got up we had a lot more than I expected in the few hours that had passed. Several times during the day I went out and shoveled the walkway. Each time the path seemed to get a little narrower as the snow piles near it got higher. Nastia doesn’t live here anymore so she didn’t help. Elena was asleep until the afternoon, and she has been in a mood often lately, so I didn’t ask for her help. The final total was in the range of 10”. One of the biggest snow storms in recent history. As I mentioned earlier, Elena has been in a mood. I’m told it’s her period, but I thought that only lasted a week, not a month. Then like a sunrise her mood changed, and she was one of the most pleasant people to be around. She’d go out of her way to pat the dogs. No more”I hate them, get away from me stupid” to the dogs. It was like the night before someone left a pod next to her bed (reference to the movie, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers" the original from 1956, not the two remakes 1978, and 2007) Elena was very pleasant to be around. We even cooked dinner together one night. I was making, I think, chicken cutlets and she helped. It was fun.

I turned 68 just recently. Each birthday gets me closer and closer to, well, you know, the end of the line. My mom is going to be 92 in June. Recently my best friend Mike lost his wife, and my daughter’s boyfriend, Sean, lost his dad. I look at Teri, and wonder if she’ll bury me, or if I’ll bury her. Will I live a long life like my mother or will I die young like my father at 66. I’m scared to death that one of us will have a stroke, and the other will have to take care of them instead of us spending a month in Italy living like natives. Three years ago, I got my snow blower fixed thinking we were going to get snow. For the next three years we got very little snow. It was easier to shovel, than get the snow blower out. I’d start it every so often, but over the last year or so I convinced myself that global warming had made snow storms largely a thing of the past. That is until recently. The snow started around six in the morning, it was a weekend, I’m not sure if it was Saturday or Sunday. I got up to let the dogs out. On the deck there was a light spotty covering of large fluffy snow flakes. This storm had been predicted for over a week. In addition, extra cold temperatures were added in. I always thought with cold weather, the air would dry out and you couldn’t have snow. Plus we were always in the area of the lighter accumulation. The weather forecaster predicted 4-8 inches. When it was all said and done we topped ten inches. Good for…, but not to shovel.

I took my first day off in a long while to see my daughters use their Ifly gift certificates, but some time between being given as a gift, several years ago, and now they were misplaced. Teri was a little pissed, but she wanted them to go flying so she purchased two more ,and scheduled their flight time for 2:30 this past Wednesday. We, Teri, and I got up early. I’mtold this is what old people do, so I;m going to work on sleeping in when I get old,and retire. Elena slept over Sean, and Nastia’s apartment. She usually gets up late on her days off from work, so I forgot she was not home.

We head out to a mid morning breakfast after Teri has a spot removed from inside her month at the dentist. She can’t eat anything solid, so she has a milk shake, I have French Toast, Nastia, like Nastia does, ordered an egg, and some bacon. She ate some of the egg,and some of the bacon. Elena ordered sausages, and Nastia had one. We were going to arrive very early at IFly. After a few missed turns on that legendary Route 4. We arrived at a comfortable 15 minutes early. We check in, The girls get their flight suits, Elena dark blue, Nastia light blue.

They wait their turn in a short line. The instructor showed an older couple, relatively speaking, maybe in their thirties how to fly. Ahead of them a couple of kids in their teen boys, their target market, I’d guess waited ahead of them. When it is their turn, at the door, they raise their arms over their head and lean into the maybe twenty foot wide tube. The instructor standing on a rope net guides them in and holds them as they lift off. They fly about four, five feet high learning to control how they move. For their second flight the instructor grabs their suit on the back, and on the leg, and both fly around the tube. The girls pay for a third flight that they, and the instructor flight up to around sixteen feet high. They are very nice, but it is expensive from my point of view. It’s now Monday February 23rd 3036 8:38 in the morning. I’m sitting at the dining room table, when on a normal day,I’d be at work going over my emails, while eating my oat meal. I scheduled chocolate for today. Yes, I’m that way. I control all the unimportant and irrelevant things in my life. I’m not at work because we are getting another snow storm. I didn’t believe we were going to get the first snow storm, and I didn’t believe we were going to get this one. So for both my snow blower isn't working. I shovelled the first storm going out several times so it wasn’t bad. I felt good doing it, and didn’t overdo it. As my wife continues to remind me, I’m not a young man any longer. My reply to that is, I live by my mother’s rule for living. If I can do it, I’m goingtodo it.Iwill not overdo it, and I will take my time.

This morning I got up at 6:45to let the dogs out, and shovel a walkway for Misha because she is old and has hip problems. I finished out back, went around to the front and did the steps. At the bottom of the steps, I look over to the cars, the wind picks up, blows more snow in my face, and suddenly I’m done.Thirty years ago I’d shovell out the cars,and gone out to deliver my milk route, like my father taught me. I choose my mother’s way and decide not to over do it and go inside. It’ll be there later in the day.

The Flash, and the new bowling ball. long ride to Chester PA.

Nastia convinced Sean to buy a new bowling ball, and almost as soon as he did, hers started to chip around the finger holes. As she always does, she looks to her little finger on her right hand and magically a bowling ball is purchased.

The ball is ordered before Christmas, and we are off from bowling for two weeks. She isn’t able to pick it up before we go back to bowling, so her little finger asks the people at the desk if they are able to open the door and get the ball for us. As luck would have it, the ball was paid for, and they have the keys. She bowls well that night with her new ball helping to overcome the poor games I bowl, and Sean not being there. The following week, Sean is not there again, and I hurt my back. She absolutely shines by single handedly overcoming the handicaps, and securing another five points. It is January, and we are in the race for a trophy.

There is this thing women do when they want to take off their bra, or a shirt that is under another shirt, that all men find amazing, and oh so interesting. We all stop what we are doing and just watch in amazement. A woman can take her arms out of her shirt, move them all around under the shirt and out of one of the arms pops a bra, or an unwanted shirt. No fuss, no muss, no flashing the crowd. The same can’t be said for women, or at least my daughter doing the reverse. At the beginning of bowling I watched my daughter take her arms out of her shirt, and a few moments later a shirt popped out one of her sleeves. She said she was too warm. I’ve given up telling her she should go to the ladies room to do that. She always would say, “I’m not flashing anyone”, and she hasn’t. At the end of bowling she wanted to reverse the removal of the shirt, and put the undershirt back on. The outer shirt is a Beatles shirt that doesn’t fit me anymore. She takes the former undershirt, puts it under the Beatles shirt, pulls her arms out of their sleeves, and I can see this is not going to end well. So, yes, like any modern person I pick up my phone, and start taking a video, instead of warning her. After she has flashed her bra to a good number of the bowlers near her, and she has come to that realization, she bids a hasty retreat, dropping the undershirt, putting her arms back in their sleeves, and quickly pulling down her shirt. She commented that the guy on the lane near us, who is about her age was staring, and must have gotten a good view. Maybe now she’ll go to the ladies room. Elena calls from work, and announces she will be home late. She says she has to drop off a car in Chester, and it will be about three hours before she will be home. Teri, and I both think, and say, “Chester,NY is not three hours away.” I bet you thought the same thing. Teri texts her for clarification, It turns out she is driving a car out to Chester PA. Now her job occasionally does this. Elena started as a courier, and they had her driving all over ZGod’s creation. At first we didn’t realize this was happening. At dinner she’d announce work had her drive down to Carlstadt NJ to a warehouse to pick up parts. We would be impressed, and glad we didn’t know about it before she went. This trip to Chester PA, that lovely little town south of Philadelphia PA. right on the Delaware River takes her, lets just say she comes waltzing back into the house sometime around 10PM,anounces she is going into work late tomorrow, so don’t wake her up. We get the usual details from her. I’ll write them down right here…. Something about someone driving either with her to pick up a car, or she followed someone to drop off a car. Well I guess it really doesn’t matter, she got home safe.

It's the same old song once again

This weekend has seemed like a reunion tour for a great old band. The original band was a two person group, and it thought it was going to be that way forever. Then something magical happened, and it changed. It became the most unlikely foursome. They put together some amazing memories over the following fifteen years. The original twosome knew the band would one day break up. They knew it would be a sad day, but also a day they would feel very proud to have ushered the two other members out into their own adventure. The first to leave was Nastia. Though she only moved down the road, it’s still a long way away when you know you’ll only see her when she comes over to wash laundry, or accepts a dinner invitation. The younger one, Elena, the one you thought would never leave, experienced the thrill of being out on her own when she slept over at her sister’s place. Now she talks about what she needs to do to move out, and how to get to that point. When she finally leaves it will be as sad as when her sister left.

It’s only been a couple of weeks Nastia has been gone. To me the house is emptier than it’s been in a long time. When we first adopted them the questions were how are we going to find the time to fit them into our lives. The question after fifteen years is what are we going to be doing with all of the empty time, and space. I’m not looking forward to it. When Karl left in 1979. when I was a kid, it never occurred to me the feeling in the house had changed. I just remember I got my own bedroom for the first time. When Ruth left, I registered a slight change in the vibe of the house, but it wasn’t huge. Then Eric left. My Dad died, and I left a few months later. Suddenly my mom had a completely empty house. Again I don’t know how she did it, and it barely occurred to me what a seismic change it was.

This weekend Sean spent his time with his father. Nastia came over for dinner on Friday. The four of us sat around the table talking, and joking like no time had passed since the last time we did it. Maybe it would have been the same if Sean were here, but to me at least it was special. It was the band back together for one last time. Maybe the last time, you never know. During the talk at dinner it got very loud. I mentioned maybe it was time to play the quiet game. No one must have heard me, because the conversation kept on going. On this night playing the quiet game would have been a crime.

Tonight the four of us went with Nancy to the movies. We saw Avatar- Fire, and Ice. I know Elena enjoyed it. She sat forward in her seat, like she does when she is really into a movie. When a bad guy died, she gave a pulled fist gesture. You know what I’m talking about. You make a fist, hold it at about a 45 degree angle about shoulder high, like pulling a chain, you yank it down to about belt level, more or less. Well future people that’s what cool people would do in 2026 anyway. Yeah, it is silly, just as all the ‘cool’ things you do now will look silly in a very few years. And yes, I remember kids saying groovy, and yes, I wore bell bottom pants. I won’t even get into what they were, and I’m not going to explain elephant pants either. On the way home from the movies tonight I was going to offer to make pizzafreet tomorrow morning. I’ve talked about it before, you may remember it is fried pizza dough, but I felt I was pushing the reunion tour a bit much. I’ll save it for another day when a second reunion tour magically happens.

A branch fell off the tree!

Friday, December 19th, near the end of the day, Teri calls to tell me a big branch fell off the tree in the backyard, and the dogs can go out the back door. I figured it was another of those tree branches I’d have to put under my arm and put my back into to pull it away from the house until I had the time to cut it up. What was the big deal? A week earlier we’d had a tree guy in to cut down several trees and to trim the tree that the branch fell off.

It’s December and I got home after dark. My first hint of what awaited me was looking into the black of the backyard, I saw a tree, where there wasn’t one. I don’t think I had to push through the side gate near the garage, but beyond that I encountered a forest blocking me from going much further. I pulled out the chainsaw

that hadn't been started since some pine trees fell down on the other side of my fence a few years ago. I’d even forgotten how to start it. I wasn’t confident it’d start. Through some miracle it started. I cut my way toward the back steps. I paused long enough to stop and talk to Teri about what was needed in the backyard. She said she wasn’t home when it happened, and Cassie is suffering from PTSD from her car accident and is scared. Both dogs literally got the crap scared out of them when the tree came down.

The branch covered the yard from the pool to the deck at the back door. The new tree I saw from the road was a branch off the main branch: it stood over the mud room, almost to the second floor window. I rough cut the wood with the idea of clearing the branches and getting most of the yard back as

soon as possible. I called my tree guy to let him know what had happened, and asked him to call me back to take down the part of the branch hanging over the mud room, and near the back of the house. A few years ago I’d have taken the branch apart myself, but my wife insists I need to realize I’m older, and I brake easier. If the tree guy hadn’t returned my call on Saturday, I’d have cut the tree branch up. I ran out of chain oil, and couldn't find the container, so I stopped. The tree guy showed up Saturday, which is good, because the chain saw didn’t want to start and I was reduced to an electric demo saw and smaller branches. The tree guy said sometimes after a cut like he did last week, the wind is less blocked and exposes weak spots in other trees. I didn’t care one way or the other. I was glad it didn’t kill anyone, and the hit to the house was mostly minor.

Well, she's moved out.

Sean and Nastia have been looking for an apartment since the late summer when they went to I think their first apartment, the German cockroach palace in Nyack. They saw three, four places in Pearl River, the apartment complex on Main Street being the best. They looked at a couple of places in Nyack, talked about going to Orange County because they’d seen everything in Rockland. They were turned down for the apartment complex in Pearl River, and another place in Stony Point off the corner of Main and Rt 9W A couple of weeks ago they were told there is a place available above Rick’s Club American down the street. They went on their own, and I don’t know if that is the reason they decided this was the place for them. I was happy for them, but in the back of my mind I was dreading moving out day.

Moving out day was Sunday, December 21st. It was still very windy from Friday when a huge tree branch came down from the neighbor's tree, and just missed our house. Sean bought a friend and his sister to help move. Being inexperienced, they filled the rental truck with the dressers and when they brought down the mattress, there was no place to put it without restacking the dressers. It didn’t take too much time to complete the move. They spent the rest of the day setting up the apartment. Before the move, Teri and I tried to get them to buy a Murphy bead. For all of you not in the know, a Murphy bed is a bed on springs that when not in use you can pick it up from the end and it goes against the wall and looks like a cabinet. The other dumb, yes dumb thing they did was they decided not to take the bed frame, so the box spring is on the floor where who knows what will be crawling around at night. I’m not saying the restaurant has rats, mice,and German Cockroaches, but remember the cockroach palace in Nyack. Their first night in the apartment was Sunday. Our house was a little quiet, and a little empty for me. I think both Teri, and I shed a quiet tear, because nothing will be the same after this. On Monday, Elena went over after dinner to help put together a table to put Sean, and Nastia’s 65” flat screen TV on. Sean won it from Goodyear Tires for selling tires. Who says there is no God. As I’ve always said, he’s got a wicked sense of humor. In that apartment the screen will be so close they’ll have to move their heads left to right to watch the TV, while Teri, and I have this itty bitty 55” screen to watch in our huge Living Room. I told Teri, I’d switch out the set for ours, they’d never notice, and maybe thank us for the lack of neck strains. I hope this works out for them and they live happily ever after.

Cassie part 2

Adendium- (Hey using that latin post from years ago again!!) She came home on Tuesday afternoon. THe sky threatened snow while it rained lightly. I wasn't sure they had a leash for Cassie, so I went to a local pet supply place and paid $17.00 for a pretty leash.

The Nurse went over instructions about Cassie’s medicines, three in total. One for pain, one to keep her calm, and a third to help her liver repair itself. The Doctor, a nice person went over what had been done to Cassie and how she should spend the next week. Her biggest health concern, that kept her in overnight was air leaking into her chest cavity from her lungs that could stop her from breathing. She needs to stay calm at home, and not run around. Difficult with Misha, the bully. My fear bringing her home alone is that she would pull her collar, run into traffic, and do another Lake road, but this time her luck would have run out. To my surprise, she jumps right into the car, crisis averted. On the ride home I see her out of the corner of my right eye looking out of the side window, then I look back again, maybe a moment later, and she is gone. Then I look back again, she is on the seat looking out the rear window. It’s like she is a ghost in my car. It’s raining, and gloomy, dark even for an early December afternoon. She moves so quietly I feel her superpower has been revealed to me. I pull into the driveway, open the door guarding against her darting out of the car to freedom again. I realize I feel like she really doesn’t need us until now. She calmly steps down out of the car. The drugs she is on must be really good. We enter the gate and take a walk around the yard. Even in her drugged up state she checks out all of the repairs I’ve done to the gate. She stops at the part of the where her latest escape happened. I believe I hear her call this tunnel Harry (Another Great Escape reference). We walk into the house where we are greeted by an excited Misha, who has moped around for the last two days. She is all excited and she will eventually take a nip out of Cassie. As the night proceeds we have to put Misha on a lush to let Cassie find a place to lay down and heal. This will go on for a week.

Cassie and ‘The Great Escape’

The title is light hearted, but this entry is less so. I still couldn’t resist though. We got Cassie about two years ago in late February. She is a great jumper, and Teri and I always joked that one day in her excitement while barking at something on the other side of the fence, she’d jump over it. We never took her for a tunneler. Now in ‘The Great Escape’ there are at least two characters who are tunnelers, but I’m going to ignore both Charles Bronson, and a Scottish actor played by Angus Lennie, called Ives, and I’m going to go with Steve MsQueen. If you’ve seen the movie, and it is well worth watching you see Steve McQueen, and yes he is the original Steve McQueen, not that guy who won an oscar or something for directing, and is fast forgotten. In ‘The Great Escape’ Steve McQueen, the original has been discovered by the Germans and they are in pursuit. Steve is super cool on his stolen motor cycle jumping the barbed wire barrier. He jumps the first barrier, it’s amazing, but the Germans are closing in and he might not make it. He has to turn around, they are on both sides of him, until he spins out and crashes into the barbed wire. This is another reason I don't want Elena to get a motorcycle. She doesn’t need to crash into barbed wire. When Steve McQueen, the original, crashes into the barbed wire, the Germans capture him, and return him to Stalag Luft 3. Fun fact ‘The Great Escape’ really happened, but the motorcycle chase didn’t. What does this have to do what Cassie you ask? Well I have watched her sitting on the back porch looking out into the yard. I thought it was to see if any squirrels or birds, whatever, have decided to invade her territory. What I believe now is she is looking at the fence, looking for holes, and weakness, like Steve McQueen, the original did when he first arrived at the camp. She tunneled out from under the gate, sort of like Steve McQueen, the original did when he trys to escape earlier in the movie. Cassie manages to get out and do a do a Steve McQueen, the original, minus the motorcycle, and she run like the wind, having a ball. While we, the sudo Germans chased her in vain. At least until she decided that she’d had enough, and came back home to Stalag Luft 3. She did this several times. I’ve been involved in at least three of these chases.

The last chase was today, or maybe the most recent, I don’t know. I’m at work, just leaving a meeting when I see Teri has called three times. I call her back, Cassie has gotten out again. This is after I’ve replaced the entire gate on the North side of the house. I drive home, meeting Teri with KJ looking for Cassie. KJ in his car seat, not yet able to be seen from the window calling out Cassie’s name. I go home, open the gate hoping Cassie will decide to come home. Her usual route has been centered in and around South Harrison, and a little east on Rockland ave, near the rail road tracks. This time she is on South Conger Ave, further west. She runs real fast when she sees someone who she knows calling her name. For her, it’s a game. She heads several times toward busy Lake Road, only to come back. She discovers the open field of the old Conger’s Elementary School. On one of these runs she decides to run toward Lake Road, my nightmare. Some poor lady in a BMW is heading east on Lake hitting her and launching her around thirty feet into the other lane. I’m not hopeful at this point. SHe lands in the other land and slides under an oncoming car. The driver driving slowly manages to stop. He backs up as I give him hand directions. Cassie is yelping, and I don’t know if I can pick her up. Traffic is backing up. I slide her out from under the car feeling her belly to see if it is safe to pick her up. I pick her up thinking maybe it’s only her leg, maybe it’s broken. I wave the drive on and step to the side of the road. Cassie clutched in my arms. Teri is on Grant Ave, a one way street, so she has to come around to get to me. As I stand there waiting for Teri, the woman in the BMW comes over. Tears are streaming down her face, she is apologizing, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” I tell her it is alright,and not her fault. She says she knows this but she is sorry. I immediately take a dislike to her. I need to forgive her, but she doesn’t need it. Teri pulls up and we start to race to the vet in Valley Cottage. Teri insists we call them. A young girl answers the phone. When we tell her what has happened, she tells us to go to an emergency hospital, and almost hangs up on us. We head toward Nanuet, and you might remember how I have talked about God, and his wicked sense of humor with me. We pull up behind an ancient woman in a moderately new car, maybe it was expensive, I don’t remember. What I do remember is she is going maybe thirty when she is going down hill. I know Teri will not pass her. Cassie, feeling a little better, has pulled from my arms and is laying on the floor of the car’s backseat, underneath KJ’s feet. I’m sitting in the back seat too. I look down at the seat and I see blood. For the life of me I can’t remember seeing any on Cassie. My fingers are bloody, but I don’t remember where the blood could have come from on Cassie. When I pulled her from under the second car, I guess she clawed me. I have two cuts on my pinkie, and ring finger, and one was dripping on the seat. I never felt them happening. At the vet they do $1,874.00 worth of tests. They discover she has an issue with her lungs, and air is filling up her chest which could kill her, if nothing is done. She is staying overnight which adds another $3,000.00 to the bill. I got a call, and they had to withdraw some air from her chest, so in case they need to put in a chest tube, they request a prepayment which ups the $3,000.00 to $4,900.00. We will wait for a call when we can pick her up. It might be tomorrow, it might not. Nastia, and Sean have gone over to see her. I don’t want to. I feel it would be too sad, and it would bring back memories of Cody. She was fine one day, but not eating. We bring her to the vet, and they say her kidneys are shot, and we have to put her down. But she was just fine yesterday. She was happy, friendly, herself. And here I am dredging up memories of her making me sadder. At least Cassie will be fine, they say.

Halloween Parade, Ring worm, and still hunting for that apartment

Halloween Parade, Ring worm, and still hunting for that apartment

Teri, Nancy, and I went to the Nyack Halloween parade. It was mostly the usual things. All three of us bought folding chairs with us. Everytime I think about the folding chairs, I smile how everyone looked at me as if I’d grown a third eye when I first bought one to the parade. I was so uncomfortable about it, I offered the chair to an older woman who looked like she could use it. For the last several years chairs have gone from a luxury to a necessity/ luxury. I could stand for the entire parade, but I don’t want to, and I’d pay for it later. It was cold, and the jacket I bought with me turned out to not be an unnecessary excess. Nastia, and Sean went somewhere. Either to a casino upstate or to a friend of Sean’s, who is also upstate. So they didn’t go. Elena, she might have just said, “I don’t want to go.” She worked, it was a Saturday, at 6, and she’d just gotten home at maybe the time we were leaving. I think the highlight of her evening was having Ramin delivered to the house from a noodle shop in Nanuet. Some time in August or maybe September Nastia had a spot on her arm that looked like a bug bite. She scratched it and it scabbed over. No moe thought was put into it until one Saturday afternoon her, and I are having lunch at Panera, and I see this circle on her arm where the scab was. I the distant reaches of my mind, I remember reading the book ‘Old Yeller’, and in it Travis got a case of ring worm on his stomach, I think. It’s been more than forty years since I might have read it. I remark to Nastia, in that off hand way I do, “What’s going on with your arm?” Before I know what I have said, I say, “It looks like ring worm.” She gets all freaked out, and wants to go to Immediate Medical care. I was raised like Travis in ‘Old Yeller’. Spit on it, rub some dirt on it, and go back to playing. I’ve tried to evolve since then, but if it don’t hurt, leave it alone. Well she was all freaked out about it, most likely because I called it ring worm. So after lunch we head over to Immediate Medical care. I am such a loving, and caring person, I leave her there to go get gas. When I return she is just finishing up the form on her phone. Most of the people before us have been seen, so our wait is not long. We are escorted to a room. I ask Nastia if she wants me to come along. She gives a most definite yes, and I follow. The medical tech comes in, asks questions to Nastia. I try to stay out of the conversation to give her freedom to answer, and to give her a chance to act like an adult, and handle something on her own that will come up again.

The Doctor arrives, and she asks some more questions. She says it looks like ring worm, and takes some blood to be sure. Who knew Travis all these years later. The Doctor asks if she has had skin to skin contact with anyone since the bit mark. Ring worm is highly contagious. Nastia stumbles a little in her answer, so I can’t resist stepping in to say “Yes, Nastia, you’ve had skin to skin with your boyfriend, you live with him. Oh boy what an enlightened parent I am (say that with sarcasm, because I needed to show how enlightened I am) The Doctor says she will put in a prescription for the spot as soon as the blood work comes back. Now how does a 21st century person get ring worm? Beats me, but with all of these anti-vaxing people willing to risk their children's health on disproven voodoo science, I guess ring worm is the least of their worries.

Tasha's wedding and the car show

Tasha’s wedding and the car show

The two last things that happened in that very busy August were Tasha getting married, and Caliper Tire’s car show. Tasha and her fiance decided to have two weddings. The fist, a traditional wedding to honor the traditions of her family, and the second to have an American style wedding, well soft of. I was asked to take a Thursday off in August way back in the Spring. Me being me decided not to worry about it then because it is in the future, and I do not live in the future. Yes, I did remember to get the day off in plenty of time, and I’d also agreed to rent a room down in Jersey to stay over after the second wedding, because it was going to be late when it is over. The first wedding, on a Thursday, started early in the day. I’m writing this after the fact, and I’m not totally sure, but it was some time around 9AM or so we showed up. We milled around with all of these brightly dressed people for a while until breakfast is served. I don’t know what I ate, but I’m told it is vegetarian. We find seats in the middle off to the left. Originally we were seated on the aisle, but Teri didn’t feel comfortable there. When the ceremony startsed, a group of men dressed in brightly colored clothes men walk down the center aisle toward the podium in the front of the room. I could almost picture the groom arriving from another village to celebrate the coming wedding.

The bride would arrive in the same manner. There were goings on between the two in the front of the room I couldn’t hear. I believe there was a game they played, and maybe a dance, I really don’t remember. The bride to be left and changed. When she came back, she was greet by matching rows of sparking fireworks like fountains on either side of the aisle. They were married, and again, I think there was a dance, they did. We were then invited to a feast of many different dishes, some I think I might have recognized. Teri, Nancy, and I sampled a little of everything. By early afternoon we were heading home. That Saturday we headed back to the same country club to their version of ‘An American Wedding’ . We were seated in a small outdoor court yard. The weather was perfect for the ceremony. This time the groom, and his groom’s men brightly colored clothing was replaced with black suits. The bride walked down the aisle in a beautiful white wedding dress. A woman performed the ceremony, and again they were man, and wife.

We went into a hall for the cocktail hour with what seemed an unlimited number of food stations. Definitely more than one person could visit without getting full, and not eating dinner. The three of us wandered around separately, coming back to report what interesting stations we’d found. Trying to not fill up there was difficult. I could have been happy if this was all the food they offered. After an hour we went into the main dining hall, and sat down. The bride, and groom were introduced, some speeches were made, and at that point I expected to get up and share the brides, and grooms fist dance together as man, and wife, but this is a Tamal version of an American wedding. Soooo, the wedding party comes out. First the grooms, then the bride, or maybe the reverse, I don’t know, but dancing there was a lot. They danced, and danced these choreographed dances they’d obviously spent a lot of time on. The music was too loud, and it’s not because I’m getting old I say that. Everyone said that. The bridal party put on a great show, then dessert came out. After that I was tired, and the party was coming to an end. We took the shuttle back to the motel and it was the end of a nice night. The next morning Teri says, “Hey lets go out to breakfast. If only the Red Barn was close to here.” She checks, and it is twenty minutes away. We have a very good breakfast, than head home. The caliber Tire car show

Caliber Tire decided to have a car show on Labor Day weekend. I thought maybe I should have been asked if I wanted to bring the Mustang over to the show. So I was very pleased when Sean and Nastia asked if they could take the car over to the show. It was another wonderful late August, early September day. Not too hot, sunny, just really nice to be out. I went with Nastia to the show to see what was there and to take a picture of the Mustang in it’s first show. No prizes were awarded, the Mustang wouldn’t have won, but some gift bags, and discount coupons were handed out. I stayed a short while, and left. It’d be interesting to see how many coupons have been redeemed since the show.

KJ goes to the beach

It was Labor day, I believe, the weather was global warmingly pleasant, so someone got the idea to go to the beach. Since it was not really ‘the summer’ anymore because as we all know summer starts on Memorial Day, and ends on Labor Day, Teri says, “Hey, lets all go to Rye beach in Westchester. I looked it up on line, as we were leaving, good preplaning, on my part, and all I got were bad reviews. Parking is expensive, the bathrooms are disgusting, it costs a lot to get onto the beach. There was nothing good about the place, and we all should go to Orchard Beach in the Bronx, a couple of miles south of there.

I mentioned these ‘facts’ as we headed toward what promised to be an expensive day, at an awful beach, in an expensive area code.

As the headline read, it was going to be KJ’s first beach day. He was going to go to Sea Side, but his mom had a reason to cancel, I don’t remember. She came along,as did Nancy, Teri, Elena, and I believe Sean was the only one who had to work. In my past life as a milk man, been there, done that, so I felt for him, until I forgot he was working. Like I said, been there, done that, time to enjoy the advantages of working at a 8-5 Monday through Friday job, with Labor Day off.

We got to the beach, before the parking opened. I thought this was the first of many awful things to happen. Then everything changed, they opened parking, and instead of $25.00, parking was $10.00. We get out of the car, walk past the gorgeous pool, and find the rest rooms. I grit my teeth, and walk in expecting to see wallboard torn off the walls, and gaping holes. It is a cool, late summer morning, I walked into the overly air conditioned, still spotless bathroom. I am even able to adjust the air so it is not so cold. The beach did not open until 10, so we waited around the ticket booths talking, looking out at teh beach watching the life guards do late season and yes I willingly accepted the senior discount on my beach pass even though I didn’t ask for it. And yes, it was $10.

The beach never really filled up even as the weather got warmer. KJ was afraid of the whistles the lifeguards used early in the day to run life saving drills. He went into the water at the beach for the first time with his mother, Nastia, and Elena. I watched from the shore in my comfy chair, sipping my water, yes, I’ve had to get mostly away from Diet Pepsi. I keep telling people I started drinking it when it was the health alternative, so I’m safe. Yeah, I know it doesn’t work like that. Sometime after one in the afternoon I went for a walk to see what was around the area. I walked to the end of the Boardwalk where a restaurant and an open dance club were. Prices in the restaurant were above what I’d want to spend. The food truck was the only other alternative, and the food turned out to be very good. Nastia, and Elena joined Teri, and I to eat hot dogs, and french fries, sitting on a bench overlooking the beach with its little waves, on that bright beautiful sunny day. We didn’t stay late, and made it home early.

And finally to the beach we go.

And finally to the beach we go. I started this edition of the blog on August 26th because we were going to the beach for the first time this year. Actually I was going to the beach for the first time this year. Everytime I turned around it seemed Nastia, and Sean were heading to the beach.

We went to the usual Sea Side in New Jersey. We got there early enough, but it was a Sunday late in the season, so the beach was a little crowded. More so than usual. It was also a little windy, so when I set up Elena’s tent, the wind pushed it a little close to some people next to us. I was struggling with everything, and I was going to move the tent, then I think Teri called me and someone else, Nastia, or Elena took over setting it up. When I look over the people are gone, sorry, I was going to move it. I set up my chair, umbrella, cooler, all the necessaries. After the tent Nastia and Elene unfold a sheet, push the edges into the sand and run into the water. I’m still setting up.

Sometime in the distant past I promised Nastia I’d go into the water. As I walked to the water with her leading me, I thought about the last time I’d been into the ocean above my ankles. I remember my mom taking me into the water when I was a little kid, and I couldn’t touch the sand. I knew I’d been in the water after that, but I honestly couldn’t remember. So I ball parked it at about 35-40 years. I walk deeper and deeper into the water. I’m waist deep looking at Nastia, she is still holding my hand like if she lets go, I’ll run back to the beach or a wave will sweep me away.

A wave comes and I ride it floating above it. Nastia says I should duck under it, and let it go over. I’m not ready to put my head into the ocean yet. THe next wave comes, it’s bigger, and starts to push me towards the beach. I let go of Nastia’s hand so I didn't pull her along with me. I brace myself with my right leg firmly planted in the sand thinking I can…but I can’t. As I’m rolling in the surf, it feels like everyone on the beach is looking at me laughing at that fat old man who thought he could resist the ocean, so after rolling what seems like the length of a football field, I pop up like nothing has happened, listening for the audience laughter, there was none. No one noticed except Nastia, and I. I could feel a sting on my knee, but I refused to look at it. Nastia came towards the shore a bit and encouraged me back in the water. On the next wave I ducked under it. I don’t know how long I was out here, but I was tired when I came out. I enjoyed the water, but had little or no interest to go back in later in the day.

Last year for lunch we went to a very good, but expensive place to have lunch. This year we went to a Mexican restaurant where we could sit outside. In the real world the dinner would have been expensive. At the beach it was reasonably priced. Teri and I stayed longer than the others with us. It was relaxing sitting there on the boardwalk watching the world go by talking to Teri. I went into the restaurant to use the bathroom before going back to the beach, and at the bar sat Elena. I’ve seen her at a bar before, but this kind of made me want to tell her to get herself out of this place, and how dare you, you know all of that parent stuff. I just smiled at her, maybe I asked her what she was drinking. I think I told her not to have too much, or maybe that was Teri. Either way she didn’t drink too much. A few hours later we packed up our vast camp and decamped, As the Left head of three headed giant said in the Holy Grail "They buggered off!", and the Third Head replied "So they have! they scampered”

Nastia ans Sean go apartment hunting.

Nastia has been wanting to go and live on her own for a while now, but with bills and not a great salary, it’s been tough.

I don’t remember what changed, it might be that Teri came up with some apartments in a range that were affordable. Maybe it was Teri who kept asking what can you afford to spend on an apartment? If you get the drift, it was most likely, like it always seems to be Teri, the driving force. If it wasn’t for her, I’d still be trying to finish up the paperwork to adopt, wait, no, to get them over here for the summer.

Sean and Nastia found an affordable place in New City to look at and they invited me. While talking I find out they have filled out paperwork they had to pay $500 each for, with the promise the landlord would pay them back. It sounded fishy to me. When he asked for a cosigner, I said yes., I’d be the cosigner. Then the landlord wanted me to fill out the same paperwork. I told him I’d give him my credit score, nothing else. That ended that apartment. I told them to cancel everything they did with him through the bank and get their money back.

Teri gets together with Sally, Sally Ann’s mother. She owns several apartments. She says it is what landlords, what she does when she is looking for a new tenant for her apartments. A few days, maybe a week or so later, they tell me they have a real estate agent who over the next hour or two or so will help them fill out paperwork for future landlords. A few days later, on a Wednesday, I think, the real estate agent has a nice apartment to see in Nyack, at a good price.

We walk up three flights of stairs, they are the back stairs and are narrow. The apartment is small. There is a small shared balcony, the other tenet seems to have taken over completely. Maybe a future problem. The front ‘room’ big enough for a queen or maybe a king bed, with maybe two chest of draws. A small living room, and a small, but functional kitchen. I’m marveling at how nice it is trying to figure out what they can fit in it, when I think Sean opens a corner cabinet and a bunch of about quarter inch bugs scramble for the far corners. My knowledge of cockroaches is you don’t see them if they are alive. I think all that need to be done is a trap or six to fix the problem. Everyone else is grossed out. I don’t know what type of bugs they are so I take my app out and snap a picture. These little buggers are German cockroaches! They also breed so quickly that you’d have to spray every couple of weeks for a while to get rid of them.I am now as grossed out as they are. Everyone leaves quickly.

Nastia on vacation and saying good bye to Uncle Tonny.

Maybe it’s me, or maybe it’s an age, her’s or mine, I don’t know. Nastia seems to not be able to stand still. She is either working or looking to do something when she is not. It’s almost like she is afraid she’ll miss something if she doesn’t keep moving. Sean took a week off. They went camping up past the Roscoe Diner, I think in Mongap? It was 100 degrees during the day here and no lower than 75-80 at night. Up there, I’m sure it was cooler, but you’re upstate and it's cooler. I texted her, asking how she slept the first night. It took a couple of days for her to reply, “It was fine, why?” I didn’t hear much about their camping trip, and there were no pictures. They then went to the shore and there were also no pictures. I assume they had a good time. As June turns to July I looked forward to our annual fishing trip to Moriches Bay on Long Island. For the past two years I’ve cancelled the trip because of the weather. This year we were going come hell or high water. Elena’s new job gives her off Tuesdays and Sean has had Tuesdays of forever, so instead of Thursdays, we were going on a Tuesday. I figured it would be slow, and because of the weather I didn’t reserve a boat until that Monday night. Actually I forgot about it until everyone had gone to bed. I went on their website and to my horror, they had no boats for rent. I thought a Tuesday before the 4th of July must be a big rental day. I was flogging myself for not renting a boat earlier when I realized they are closed on Tuesday. IT’S THEIR SEASON TO MAKE MONEY!! WHY THE HELL ARE THEY CLOSED!! The guy who ran it before them, Gary, never closed in season. I was heartbroken when I told the girls and Sean. Nastia immediately said, “Okay, we’ll go to the beach, want to come?” I couldn’t go and leave Teri, who was watching KJ, that day, and Elena, skipped to sleep in. My biggest fear happened on Tuesday and hopefully will inspire me to keep working for a while. I experienced babysitting JK. It got to the point around Noon or so after I’d had a fight with Teri. KJ and I exchanged throwing toys at each other that I felt it was time to go to ‘Home Depot’ to get something, anything. I came back around 5-6 o’clock. I got a heart attack, walked up five flight of stairs to donate blood to find out they closed the location. Next I went to see my mom. I did something else and figured about 5-6 pm was a safe time to return.

We went to Pearl River to see the fireworks. There was a Four Seasons tribute band that I had to be reminded we were seeing for free. The fireworks started around 9:20. The band was nearing the end of their second set when they played that awful song by Lee Greenwood. In these overly divisive political days one side has sort of adopted that song. There was a story going around that the US government was paying him when they used it when they swear in new citizens, but that was not true as far as I can tell. The song has all of the words to make a MAGA man cry, but it is truly a very poor song. The band wanted to end with ‘God Bless America’, but they were told they’d run out of time.

The night had started to get cold and the quicker it ended, the happier I was. My mom and Bruce went with us. Nancy and KJ were there too. KJ being a handful, but with four people to watch him and no toys to launch, it went off without a hit. The nation is 249, I remember when it turned 200, it seems like just yesterday.

On June 16th, my mom turned 91. We took her out to Sangria's for dinner. She had a good time. I'm not really sure she enjoyed the food. She took most of it home. A few days late we got word that my Uncle Tonny, aged 94 had died. They had a wake for him in Bedford Massachusetts where he spent the better part of 40 years. He’d only recently moved to the panhandle of Florida to be near his kids, grandkids, and I think great grandkids. I met several people I didn’t know when Karl and I went up there to represent our side of the family. My mom said she didn’t want to go, because she didn’t want to see him in a coffin.I can’t blame her. He was buried on Thursday, which would have been his 95th birthday. At the wake they told the story of how his family lied about his age so he could enlist. According to the Air Force he was 16 when he enlisted,not 15, like he was.

One of my favorite stories about him is when he was stationed in New Mexico during all of the UFO hoopla. There was this building that if you got too close to it, crossed a certain line, you’d get shot. Was there a UFO in that building? I guess we’ll never know

That F&*kin pool does it again.

I did everything right last year when I closed the pool. I bought a new cover, pool balloons, everything needed to have a happy Spring/Summer when I opened the pool next year. Sometime around December, the water level starts to drop. I think maybe it’s my imagination, and maybe it will freeze before it goes any lower, neither happens. The weather stays warm and wet. The cover grommets holding the cover from falling into the pool come loose and eventually the cover falls into the pool, dirty water, leaves and all. I know it’s going to be a mess in the

Spring, but I’ll get a head start on it and fix the pool liner, and get a new filter, it’s gotten worn out. Late April, early May I get to work on the pool. I clean the dirty water out of the pool, leaves, whatever else has fallen into the pool that doesn’t belong there. I dream of days past where I’d have both daughters working with me or at least hanging around with me waiting for the pool to be ready to get into. These days, like last year, it is barely used. I had great hopes for this year. I leave several inches of water in the pool so the liner doesn’t shrink. Holes in the pool in the past have been around where the ladder is. I excommunicate the ladder when I find a hole from last year has opened up again and it’s the problem. I give Teri carte blanche to find another ladder. I patch the hole. While doing that the left side of the liner comes loose and with Elena’s help we smooth out the bumps in the floor of the pool near there.

When I patch the hole, it is up against the wall. As it begins to fill, it moves several inches toward the center of the pool. I hope for the best. As the level of the water increases over a week it seems to be fine. No water is leaking out. So on Saturday or Sunday, near the end of May, I go all out and fill the pool to the top. Sunday night it looks wonderful. It’s clean, it’s blue and it’s too cold to swim in. Tuesday coming home from work, I see it has gone down, and there is no question about it.

So it has sat for the last two weeks. Nastia and I got in and walked the pool looking for possible leaks and found nothing obvious. I called a couple of pool companies, one doesn’t do above ground, the other wants $195.00 to patch and there are no guarantees. They said they’d send me a contract, then make an appointment to come patch the pool. We’ll see where this goes.

Memorial Day parade, Boston and going out to dinner with her sister and others.

The Memorial day parade was, as always , forgotten until I heard the music. That is exactly the way it happened. I’m up about 9:30, doing some yard work, because as always I’m behind and Teri thinks the yard looks horrendous. To tell you the truth, I can’t do as much as I’d like to do any more and if I physically can, a lot of times I just don’t want to. Anyway I’m doing something outside and I hear band music and police sirens. I realize it is not just a regular Saturday, it’s Memorial Day Weekend, but not the three day one, just the two day one where there is a parade. I go inside, making sure my feet are clean, knowing Teri is not anywhere near ready to go see the parade. I ask her, and she says,no. I wake up Nastia, and she says, yes. She quickly changes and we get down to the

parade just as it is coming down the street. It’s the usual old cars, old fire fighting equipment and people marching. We see a couple of people we know from bowling marching in the parade, they both wave. We even see Ann, our next door neighbor. She is busy trying to stay in step and doesn’t see us. People next to us comment about how funny it would be if a train came. I remind Nastia that happened a few years ago. She doesn’t remember. I guess she’ll be surprised at how much she did in her life if she ever reads thai blog. She might even be surprised she came from Russia. The parade is quick, and fun.

Now on the real Memorial day weekend, where most everyone has off on Monday, Sean and Nastia have planned to go to Boston. My immediate question is why on a holiday weekend? Sean, through his landlord at the shop, has gotten a deal on a room at a nice hotel. They leave early Saturday afternoon and avoid traffic, arriving around six, I think. They have dinner, and the next day do all of the things tourists do. Nastia sends pictures to Teri, I guess KJ is tired of drawing his impression of places he’s never been. They arrive back home, safe and sound, Sunday night around six or so. Saying they had fun. Nastia buys me a T-shirt and Teri gets a container of Clam Chowder. She eats it the next day, saying it is really good. Nastia, Sean and Elena go out to dinner, but I don’t remember much about it.

That song from 1957 by the Silhouettes- Get a Job or in her case GOT A JOB

It’s surprising how quickly Elena got a job. No, wait, I have to be honest, Teri got Elena a job. Teri got Elena, or at least made Elena aware of the job available at Caliper Tires, and the two jobs I just mentioned. She got Nastia both of her jobs and She got me two out of the three last jobs I have worked. The two job offers are from Lea Toyota and the second at the Jeep dealership in Nanuet. At the Jeep place, she would have been doing the same stuff she was doing at Caliper Tire, brakes, tires, oil changes, that type of stuff. The job at Lea seemed to call to her, my words, not her’s. She said she preferred to work at Lea, but she couldn’t say why. The job she would do is very bottom rung, clean cars, put tags in the car and on the keys, set up cars for technicians to bring them into the shop easily. You know, back them into the parking spot, something Teri and I both do and have tried to encourage both girls to do. Well Elena could have learned an important work skill if she had continued to work at backing up into her parking spot.

Elena asked Teri how to tell the jeep place she was not going to take the job. This time she learned a valuable life lesson, how to turn down a job without cutting off a possible job position. Teri even wrote out what she should say. Tomorrow, Saturday, Elena will finish her first week. It’s not an exciting job, she says, but it’s cool or words to that effect. She stopped by Caliper Tire and talked to Sean sr telling him she misses the place, which was sweet of her. As long as the two who don't like her are there, Elena is best working somewhere else. It’s funny, I asked Elene what days she works, when she first got the job, she didn’t know, I could but I didn’t ask what she would be making, but I’m sure she won’t know until her first check and even then she might not check it out. She really doesn’t care.

Everybody hurts, sometime*

* R.E.M 1982- I'm impressed with myself. I've used a song from the 1980's. Usually I'm doing songs from the 60's and 70's. Everybody hurts sometime, especially when someone tells you they don’t want you to work at their company any more. It’s easier when you're younger, even though the pain of rejection is worse. I was fired at 16 from my first job, at a typewriter repair store (think about it and you’ll figure out what the business did. I guess it’s like book binding, once it was very important.) because I didn’t know how to work. Nastia was fired from the movie theatres at the mall for cursing at an employee that was bothering her. She also lost her job at Helen Hayes because she picked a child up by the arm and that is against the rules, could have dislocated their arm.

Now Elena got her first job at Stop and Shop. She did an amazing job and was promoted to assistant to a manager. She began to hate the job, took some classes, at BOCES, in automotive repair and got a job at a local tire shop. Most everybody there loved her. The two who were not nice to her gave her grief, so she mouthed off to them. And yes after several years of this, the boss who didn’t like her fired her.

I remember coming home from getting fired at sixteen and going to sleep, I was so upset. I don’t remember what Nastia did. Elena is acting a little quiet, and nicer to the dogs. When we talk about the two people who are responsible for her not having a job, she is less nice, and I can’t blame her. I've been fired three times in my life. The first one hurt, the second one was a shock that came out of left field. The third and hopefully last one I should have known was coming. I was just drifting, looking for accounts in my territory, a territory I wasn’t sure what the boundaries were and a boss too busy with what he wanted to do than to manage his sales staff. After the last firing, I drifted and didn’t try to get a job in the industry I knew because it was dying and I knew it. I don’t want Elena to drift. She is young and does have some time. Her bills are minimal and she does have some money saved. They have both been good at saving lately. I asked Sean one day or night once recently, was he happy. When Nastia mentioned it to me a few days later she made it sound weird, it wasn’t I was trying to point out that most people don’t realize when they are happy, until it has passed and they compare it to where they are now. I, being older, occasionally stop to ask myself if I am happy, and I have realized I’m pretty happy now. Teri and I have financially gotten back on top of things.We’re making plans to fix up the house and maybe retire in it or whatever the future brings. Sean said he is happy, Nastia is almost always happy, I hope, haven’t asked. Elena is always hard to read, she is so much like me when I was her age. She keeps to herself, seems mad a lot of the time. She doesn’t have too many friends. Is not outgoing. Maybe I’m channeling me and she is nothing like me, but I see that person who when she smiles at you can melt your heart. I don’t know how I managed to get here from where I was, and I didn’t have nine years in Russia on my back. She is strong and I hope she knows how much she is loved. And we know how big of a heart she hides. She’ll come out the other side better off, I believe. When KJ goes looking for her he will yell, "Yell-a. The girl who doesn't like kids, likes him and he loves her. Everybody hurts, sometime lyrics When your day is long And the night, the night is yours alone When you're sure you've had enough Of this life, well hang on Don't let yourself go 'Cause everybody cries Everybody hurts sometimes Sometimes everything is wrong Now it's time to sing along When your day is night alone (hold on, hold on) If you feel like letting go (hold on) If you think you've had too much Of this life, well hang on 'Cause everybody hurts Take comfort in your friends Everybody hurts Don't throw your hand, oh no Don't throw your hand If you feel like you're alone No, no, no, you are not alone If you're on your own in this life The days and nights are long When you think you've had too much Of this life to hang on Well, everybody hurts sometimes Everybody cries Everybody hurts, sometimes And everybody hurts sometimes So hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on, hold on Hold on, hold on, hold on Everybody hurts